January 22, 2026, 5:01 p.mJanuary 22, 2026, 5:01 p.m
Two women and a man were arrested at an aircraft hangar with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s private plane on Thursday night.
Friedrich Merz sits in his private plane.Image: DPA
They are said to have tried to damage the head of government’s plane, as police and public prosecutors said. But that didn’t happen. Merz is a hobby pilot and lives in Arnsberg in Sauerland, western Germany – the site of the incident.
Well-known climate activist among the accused
The accused, aged 23, 28 and 56, are said to have gained unauthorized access to the airport premises. There they were arrested for trespassing. Among them was the German climate activist Anja Windl, as a spokeswoman for the Arnsberg public prosecutor confirmed.
One of the accused is climate activist Anja Windl.Image: imago
A group called the Resistance Collective spoke out in a statement after the incident: They had “tried to shut down Friedrich Merz’s private plane as part of a protest,” it said. Windl also took part. The 28-year-old German is considered an important figure in climate protest, especially in Austria.
Silence from the police, confession in public
She and the other two accused have already appeared in criminally relevant protests in the past and can be attributed to left-wing politically motivated crime, said the spokeswoman for the investigative authority. All three were questioned, but did not comment on the allegations to the police.
Unlike the police, the Resistance Collective explained their motives in their statement: They wanted to take the pink plane out of service in the long term. “We are acting here out of self-defense,” Windl is quoted as saying. As the climate crisis escalates, Friedrich Merz is flying around the area in his own plane, according to their message.
Windl: undesirable person for the Austrian authorities
The 28-year-old is considered a central figure in the Austrian climate protest and, according to the authorities there, has been arrested several times following sit-ins and other protest actions. Among other things, Windl protested in January against the start of coalition talks between the conservative ÖVP and the right-wing FPÖ.
Anja Windl is 28 years old. Image: imago
She wrote on the outside wall of the ÖVP party headquarters: “You stink of brown shit.” Austria then issued a two-year residence ban against her, but this has not yet become legally binding.
A suspicious car gave the action away
According to investigators, the trio was stopped early this Thursday in Arnsberg because a police patrol had recently noticed a car driving slowly in the area. It was then checked.
It turned out that the inmate was known from the “left-wing activist spectrum”. He asked about an airport nearby. The police then took measures at Arnsberg-Menden airfield and later arrested the three climate activists there.
The accused were released from police custody at midday. “There are no grounds for detention,” said the spokeswoman for the Arnsberg public prosecutor’s office. As is usual with politically motivated crimes, the state security agency took over the investigation. (sda/dpa)